| Daily Times - Site Edition | Sunday, December 03, 2006 |
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THE OTHER COLUMN: Decency on hold —Ejaz Haider
Being poor, socio-economically or in terms of correct connections, both usually related, is not just a crime in Fatherland, it’s a sin
Here are some incidents, seemingly unrelated; let’s try and see if there is a common strand in them.
Some days ago, at the Rafi Peer World Performing Arts Festival which Lahoris have come to enjoy thoroughly because culture and entertainment in this city normally does not go beyond eating out, my colleague at The Friday Times, Imaduddin Ahmed, was beaten up by some guards at the venue. He had gone there to cover the event.
Imad is a soft-spoken young man, very decent and full of ideas and ideals. Clearly, he doesn’t read us jaded oldies and is definitely not familiar with Micky’s writings on the Fatherland and the Yahoos that dot its landscape on any 12-figure grid reference that one may take on a one-inch-to-one-mile map. Imad also believes in personal rights, the law, and such absurd concepts as personal space — in a Pakistani crowd (I ask you!).
From believing to asserting is mere one step. On that evening, after he was pushed by an over-enthusiastic guard, Imad told him in no uncertain terms that this was an assault on his person and thus illegal. Knowing Imad, I am sure he said this in English. English, gentle reader, doesn’t get you anywhere in a Pakistani, particularly Punjabi-Yahoo crowd; Punjabi laced with information on the doubtful pedigree of the recipient does.
The guard and some of his pals, unimpressed, pulled Imad to a side, threw him on the ground, and gave him a lesson in the practical law of the Fatherland. Imad, the master of under-statement, told me that initially the eldest Peer brother tried to twist the incident in a way that can “only be described as deviation from the truth”.
Imad is now content with a measly apology from the guard. But let’s move on.
The owner of Nirala Sweets is reported to have killed a six-month-old baby and injured the parents while racing his sports car (I am told he was driving a Porsche. Why people would keep Porsches and Hummers in this city is beyond me). He fled from the scene after performing the grand feat and is now reportedly threatening the parents with dire consequences to prevent them from pressing charges against him. Sohail Zafar, a very dear friend, and a gentleman known both for being a good doctor and an even better human being, told Imad something about eastern values.
Thanks, but no thanks.
A couple of weeks ago, a 15-year-old killed some members of his family and disappeared. The newspapers and TV channels, in any other country, would have kept at the story until the boy was caught. Not here. I am told, privately, that this is because of pressure from some political quarters in the province and the city of Lahore and that the boy will ultimately be sent abroad, if he hasn’t been already.
The scene changes.
About a week ago, I visited a jail where I met with about two-dozen juvenile inmates, all from poor families. Some might have been guilty, but most were there on charges that boys from affluent families would laugh about. An 11-year-old was under-trial for illicit sexual relations, a charge, which, even if true, should have half the population of Lahore and at least some percentage of the clergy behind bars. Some were being tried on the charge of loitering; some for possession of illegal arms; some on the charge of theft (amounts ranging from Rs1000 to 5000), some for possession of small quantities of cannabis (ask boys and girls at farmhouse parties about that!) and so on. Most of them were there because they were poor; if they had connections, they could, literally, get away with murder.
Time to put this together.
Many years ago, policemen on Queen’s Road beat up two of my colleagues. We rushed to the precinct; I also met with the SP and we had a hard time getting the police to even acknowledge their mistake and that too only after we involved then-Governor Chaudhry Altaf. Some days after this incident, army officers and jawans from a battalion of the Baloch Regiment beat up five or six policemen from the same precinct. I decided to write about the incident and called the SP — the same officer I had met a few days ago — and he told me of how mercilessly his men had been thrashed by the army-wallahs. “You must write about this illegal and brutal behaviour,” he said. “Sure,” I said to myself.
I wrote on a piece of paper: police (with firepower) beat up citizens (no firepower); police (with less firepower) get beaten up by the army (with ultimate fire power). Corollary: power (projected through firepower) is the metaphor in Fatherland.
Being poor, socio-economically or in terms of correct connections, both usually related, is not just a crime in Fatherland, it’s a sin. By the way, I am no communist or softy lib-lab, thank God for that. But I do know that states cannot function without a modicum of legality and rules that must be applicable across the board. I also know that no one should be allowed to become too big. Monopolies bring their own evil to bear on things and that goes for letting one family or person dominate any scene, be it culture, politics or business. Newspapers in Pakistan, after some good work in the late eighties and early- to mid-nineties, have now generally fallen short on many counts, especially looking at micro issues of governance and corruption.
Eastern values include, unfortunately, incestuous linkages that impact all aspects of social, economic and political life. So there is no reason to romanticise them. Indeed, as Razi Azmi wrote some weeks ago, there are more examples of downshifting in the West than there are here where, ostensibly, we do not tire of talking about spiritualism and family values.
Short of creating a legal entity based on rational laws, the only option for us is to descend into tribalism. Firepower cannot be thwarted with legal arguments, as Imad learned to his disadvantage. It can only be deterred with firepower. Until everyone becomes decent, let’s put our decency on hold.
Ejaz Haider is News Editor of The Friday Times and Op-Ed Editor of Daily Times. He can be reached at sapper@dailytimes.com.pk